An Old Monster's Frustration
by Swimming Poole
Summary: A year after the events of "Monsters Inc.", Sully visits Waternoose in jail in hopes of reconciliation and to talk sense into him.


"An Old Monster's Frustration"

"Waternoose."

The call was directed toward the cell containing Henry J. Waternoose the 3rd, former CEO of Monsters Inc., serving a lengthy sentence for kidnapping and conspiracy. It was about a year ago today when he was taken in when his plans were exposed, largely thanks to the efforts of James P. Sullivan and his friend/co-worker Mike Wazowski.

He had convinced himself that what he was doing would give all of Monstropolis abundant energy and keep the company afloat. He had also heard that, sometime after, Sullivan would take over the company and that the monsters would now use laughter as an energy source instead of screams. This change did not agree with him.

"Yes?" the convicted monster turned and asked with a miserable look plastered on his wrinkled face.

"You have a visitor" the guard replied.

Nobody ever came to visit him. No family since they cut off all contact with him since his incarceration, no friends since he never really had any. Nobody. Who in the world would want to visit him on the anniversary on the worst day of his life? As the door opened, it just so happened to be the exact person who made it that way:

"Sullivan!" Waternoose gasped in shock.

Another surprise figure appeared right behind him.

"AND Mike Wazowski, Monsters Inc.'s top comedian!"

Sully and Waternoose just looked at him as all three went silent. Knowing this was an already awkward moment given the circumstances, Mike started backing out the door.

"I'll just leave the two of you in peace…" he quietly said, closing the door behind him.

It was just them alone.

"James P. Sullivan, I should have known…" Waternoose said with an essence of resentment.

"Mr. Waternoose" Sully began, "I didn't come to gloat or anything."

"Then why ARE you here?" Waternoose responded angrily.

"I just came to say that your company is back on top, providing energy for the town, everything you aimed for. I thought you'd be proud…"

His former boss just remained silent, eyes closed and trying not to look him in the eye.

"Look" continued Sully, "I can tell that you may not approve of the fact that we're making children laugh rather than scare them, I myself was a little reluctant about the change too. I'm used to scaring, but now I'm comfortable running the company while Mike does all the work. I understand how it feels…"

Waternoose couldn't bear it anymore.

"NO! You don't understand! All this goes against ALL monster culture! We monsters have lived to scare for hundreds of years! You're making MY company into a joke! A contradiction towards all monster history! A…A…"

At this point, he began fighting tears of frustration. He had his back towards him, but Sully could tell the old monster had a hard time accepting what was.

"Mr. Waternoose, you said yourself that you would do ANYTHING to keep Monsters Inc. from going under. You said scaring wasn't enough anymore. Times change, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but they change. Your company is only adapting to those changing times.

"And then you bring up contradiction. You say the company's attention to laughter instead of fear goes against monster culture. I hear this from the monster who had us all believe that contact with human children was deadly, yet was willing to kidnap over a thousand of them himself to extract their screams? I don't want to sound condescending, but some monsters SHOULD practice what they preach.

"Granted, we did run into a little outrage when we first announced we were going to use laughter. Dean Hardscrabble from Monsters University was quite shocked herself! She came to the building personally and went on and on about how frantic all the schools were over how all they were teaching was going obsolete. During that time, I went to bed each night questioning whether or not I was making the right decision.

"Now, flash forward a year later and look. This may not be the way you pictured it, but the world is thriving. You made the choices that led you here, I myself learned from the experience of said choices, and as you can see, your cell looks rather well-lit, thanks to me."

After all that, Mr. Waternoose still remained silent. He did, however, turn to face Sullivan.

"I only learned from the best, Mr. Waternoose…" said Sully, with tears in his eyes. "Thank you."

The prison door opened up again, and with that Sully began to exit with a solemn, yet remorseful look on his fuzzy face. The door slammed shut without even a 'goodbye'.

Waternoose was all alone again, just like he'd been for an entire year since the incident. He looked up at the bulbs illuminating his otherwise dark, gray cell. They were, indeed, well-energized. He may not like it, but what Sully said was true. The monster world was changing and moving on, with or without screams. It was time for an old monster like him to just accept it.

"Sullivan…" he said under his breath, defeated, "thank you…"

THE END


End file.
